Excavation under an old Jerusalem prison revealed a 2,100-year-old defensive structure, preserved under successive historical layers. The monumental find will be integrated into a new gallery, where a glass floor will allow observing the ruins exactly where they remained buried.
A project aimed at transforming an old Jerusalem prison into an exhibition space revealed a defensive structure built around 2,100 years ago, preserved under the building known as Kishle, which is part of the Tower of David Museum complex.
Hidden under the floor of one of the wings, the Hasmonean wall foundation is almost 50 meters long and approximately 5 meters wide, dimensions that place it among the most expressive continuous sections ever excavated of this fortification system.
To reach the structure, archaeologists manually removed from the hall an amount of earth and debris equivalent to the volume of two Olympic swimming pools, work that exposed a long stone base responsible for supporting part of Jerusalem’s ancient defenses.
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According to the Associated Press, the wall protected an urban area larger than the current limits of the Old City, revealing how the capital’s layout expanded beyond the borders that today guide the perception of residents, researchers, and visitors.
2,100-year-old wall will remain under glass floor
After the discovery, the space ceased to be treated merely as an archaeological area and became part of the new gallery project, which includes the installation of a floating glass floor directly over the preserved ruins.
Under this elevated surface, visitors will be able to walk through the hall while observing the ancient construction below their own feet, without direct contact with the blocks and without removing the wall from the exact spot where it was found.
Instead of transferring the stones to isolated showcases, the Tower of David Museum intends to keep the entire set in its original context, incorporating the structure into the future Schulich Wing of Archaeology, Art, and Innovation.
By combining public circulation and preservation, the project brings archaeology closer to the museum’s everyday experience, allowing different historical periods to remain visible in the same environment, without erasing the marks left by each previous use of the building.
Old Jerusalem Prison Brought Together Different Functions
Long before becoming part of a museum, the Kishle already concentrated almost two centuries of transformations, as it was built in 1830 as a military base and later adapted to function as a prison in a strategic area of Jerusalem.
During the British Mandate, the building continued to be used by the authorities until the 1940s, a period whose traces still remain on the walls, ceiling, and corridors that survived successive changes of occupation.
Among these marks are inscriptions made by detainees in English, Hebrew, and Arabic, as well as remnants of the iron bars of the old cells, elements that will continue to be displayed when the space receives its new museological function.
Although much of the building remains linked to the Israeli police, one of the wings was deactivated and transferred to the Tower of David Museum, a move that paved the way for excavations and adaptation of the site.
Excavations Spanned Different Historical Periods
The first archaeological work began in the late 1990s but was interrupted during the Second Intifada, leaving important parts of the hall still covered by earth, debris, and structures accumulated over different eras.
Years later, the research was resumed by teams that manually removed the material deposited inside the building, reaching areas of the site never fully examined and revealing a continuous sequence of historical occupations.
In addition to the Hasmonean foundation, archaeologists found cavities associated with fabric dyeing during the Middle Ages, material proof that the same space hosted economic activities long before the 19th-century military construction.
Gathered in the same environment, these traces show how the site repeatedly changed function, going through defensive, artisanal, military, prison, and now museological uses, without the previous layers being completely erased by the passage of time.
Fortification Belongs to the Hasmonean Kingdom Period
Built during the Hasmonean Kingdom period, the wall emerged after the Maccabean revolt and a few decades after the events linked to the origin of Hanukkah, integrating a defensive system that surrounded Jerusalem at that historical moment.
Almost 50 meters long, the excavated section corresponds approximately to half a football field, while the base of 5 meters wide supported walls larger than the current walls of the Old City.
Historical records cited by the Associated Press describe dozens of watchtowers distributed along the old defensive system, some over 10 meters high and positioned to follow the terrain around the urban area.
These dimensions help explain why the foundation needed to be so wide, as the blocks supported a barrier capable of protecting the city against sieges, territorial disputes, and successive changes of government during that period.
Preserved base reveals the scale of the ancient defense
During the excavation, researchers noticed that the upper part of the wall had been dismantled to a relatively uniform height, while the foundation remained protected under later constructions and survived centuries without completely disappearing over time.
This preservation allowed for the analysis of a long and continuous stretch, rather than small isolated fragments, offering a clearer reading of the defensive layout and the relationship between the fortification, the terrain, and the constructions erected later.
By observing the sequence of the stones, archaeologists were able to better understand the scale of the complex and the way the wall followed the space that, many centuries later, would host military installations, cells, corridors, and administrative areas.
Preserved underground, the structure also functions as a physical link between periods normally presented separately, bringing together for the public the Hasmonean Jerusalem, medieval activities, and the old prison in a single visitable area.
New gallery will maintain the prisoners’ marks
The proposal for the new gallery is not limited to displaying the wall, as the project will also preserve the inscriptions left by prisoners and the remains of the bars that still record the uses of the Kishle in the 19th and 20th centuries.
While the glass floor will allow viewing the ruins below, walls, ceiling, and corridors will continue to present more recent marks, creating a vertical reading of history, from the ancient fortification to the period of the prison’s operation.
The intervention will be carried out after the completion of the archaeological phase, and adapting the hall is expected to require at least two years of work to install the elevated surface and prepare safe circulation for visitors.
During this process, the institution intends to ensure the preservation of the underground ruins, avoiding direct contact with the blocks and keeping accessible the material evidence that transformed the old confinement space into an exhibition area.
When the gallery is open, the public will walk through an old prison transformed into a museum, observing underfoot a 2,100-year-old wall and, around, inscriptions and bars that record other chapters of the building’s history.
In the face of so many layers preserved in the same space, would you walk across a transparent floor knowing that, just a few centimeters below, remains a wall built over two millennia ago to protect a city much larger than the current Old City?
